Privatization of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) will be announced in 2017, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Financial Markets Supervision Chamber of Azerbaijan, Rufat Aslanli, said at a banking conference in Baku.

"The main goal is to diversify, reduce the size of the bank’s assets in the first half of 2017. About 40% of Azerbaijani banking sector's assets account for the share of the IBA, and it is a threat to the banking system. Therefore, it’s necessary to bring the assets size of the IBA to a level that will not threaten the banking system," Trend cited him as saying.

He noted that both local and foreign investors will be able to take part in the privatization process of the IBA.